From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon
December 12, 2022 5:42 PM Subscribe
Helga, Zohar and Commander Moonikin Campos take a trip. It's time for another look at humanity's exploration of space, starting with the Sun.
The European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter glimpsed a "solar snake" racing across the face of the Sun.
Venus
The W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies called for humans to go to the solar system's second planet before reaching the fourth.
From Earth’s surface to orbit
Indian company Skyroot Aerospace and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the Vikram-S. China launched a series of rockets, including a Jielong-3 (捷龙三号运载火箭) flight with fourteen satellites from a mobile sea platform and one orbiting a Gaofen 5 (01A) hyperspectral imaging satellite. A Chinese Long March 6A rocket's first stage exploded and broke up in low Earth orbit, close to Starlink satellites.
Britain's Civil Aviation Authority granted Virgin a license to open a rocket launching site. (Note: “Spaceport Cornwall is one of seven spaceports being developed across Britain.”). The ESA announced seventeen new astronaut candidates. (previously)
A Cygnus cargo ship reached the International Space Station with just one working solar panel. The United States (FCC) allowed SpaceX to launch its second generation of Starlink satellites. Divers found previously undiscovered wreckage of the Challenger on the Atlantic seafloor.
In orbit
China's Tiangong space station held two crews at the same time, as three taikonauts road the Shenzhou-15 (神舟十五号) to join three others already in orbit, two of whom did a spacewalk. The Shenzhou 14 crew then safely returned to Earth. Tiangong is also conducting experiments in orbital solar power. Discussions are under way for a potential station expansion.
Two NASA astronauts also did a spacewalk on the ISS. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that one of its astronauts had compromised an experiment on the ISS.
The Hubble space telescope imaged two galaxies in collision and detected a faint glow around our solar system. A United States Space Force early warning satellite, the Wide Field of View (WFOV), sent back its first images. NASA lost contact with the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) satellite.
Back down to Earth
NASA's Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) heat shield successfully landed on Earth after plummeting through the atmosphere.
The American military's automated shuttle X-37B landed on Earth after being in orbit more than 900 days.
The Earth's Moon
(50 years ago this week Apollo 17 visited the moon.)
On November 16th the Artemis I mission very successfully launched (previously), as the Space Launch System (SLS) carried to space the Orion spacecraft and more, leading NASA engineers to cut their ties. After reaching Earth orbit and firing itself towards the moon, the Launch Abort System blasted away from Orion and the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (IPCS) detached. During its journey Orion looked back to the Earth and ahead to its destination, catching an Earthrise and an eclipse. Orion skimmed over the moon's surface to within 80 miles, near side and far side, then traced a long, retrograde lunar orbit as far away as 40,000 miles from the moon, watching the moon and Earth transit, breaking Apollo 13's distance record for a human-rated ship. Next, Orion deorbited, skimmed over Luna once more, and headed back to Earth, casting a farewell glance. Yesterday Orion burned through the Earth's atmosphere to splash down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
Artemis I also carried ten cubesats, including LunIR, Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper, Lunar IceCube, and ArgoMoon. BioSentinel tumbled for a bit, until an Ames team fixed things. Ground-based trackers lost contact with the Outstanding MOon exploration TEchnologies demonstrated by NAno Semi-Hard Impactor (OMOTENASHI). NASA lost contact with Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) and CubeSat for Solar Particles (CuSP). EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft (EQUULEUS) seems to be doing well. Ground control reestablished contact with Team Miles.
Meanwhile, another NASA probe successfully entered lunar orbit, CAPSTONE. NASA also awarded SpaceX a contract to develop a second Artemis lunar lander.
Also headed to the moon are a pair of probes, NASA's Lunar Flashlight and the iSpace HAKUTO-R M1 launched, which carries an Emirates Lunar Mission rover named Rashid and a JAXA "transformable lunar robot." Both were lofted together on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and will take several months to reach the moon.
A Japanese billionaire announced the crew to accompany him on dearMoon, a private lunar expedition. Enough missions are approaching the moon for two RAND scientists to ponder lunar mining issues.
In the Earth’s L2 point
The James Webb space telescope has been busy, expanding on what Hubble found, discerning details of an exoplanet's atmosphere, revealing more details of a nebula, and noting a protostar's formation, all while dodging micrometeoriods and competing with Artemis for Deep Space Network bandwidth.
Mars
A NASA team successfully updated Ingenuity's software. The helicopter then set a Martian altitude record. Scientists used the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) system on the Perseverance rover to identify ancient aqueous environments. Speaking of which, Viking I may have landed on the remains of an old flood.
To the asteroids
The Lucy spacecraft raced away from Earth, albeit with one flawed solar array.
Saturn
Webb turned its mechanical eyes to Titan and identified clouds in that thick atmosphere.
The European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter glimpsed a "solar snake" racing across the face of the Sun.
Venus
The W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies called for humans to go to the solar system's second planet before reaching the fourth.
From Earth’s surface to orbit
Indian company Skyroot Aerospace and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the Vikram-S. China launched a series of rockets, including a Jielong-3 (捷龙三号运载火箭) flight with fourteen satellites from a mobile sea platform and one orbiting a Gaofen 5 (01A) hyperspectral imaging satellite. A Chinese Long March 6A rocket's first stage exploded and broke up in low Earth orbit, close to Starlink satellites.
Britain's Civil Aviation Authority granted Virgin a license to open a rocket launching site. (Note: “Spaceport Cornwall is one of seven spaceports being developed across Britain.”). The ESA announced seventeen new astronaut candidates. (previously)
A Cygnus cargo ship reached the International Space Station with just one working solar panel. The United States (FCC) allowed SpaceX to launch its second generation of Starlink satellites. Divers found previously undiscovered wreckage of the Challenger on the Atlantic seafloor.
In orbit
China's Tiangong space station held two crews at the same time, as three taikonauts road the Shenzhou-15 (神舟十五号) to join three others already in orbit, two of whom did a spacewalk. The Shenzhou 14 crew then safely returned to Earth. Tiangong is also conducting experiments in orbital solar power. Discussions are under way for a potential station expansion.
Two NASA astronauts also did a spacewalk on the ISS. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that one of its astronauts had compromised an experiment on the ISS.
The Hubble space telescope imaged two galaxies in collision and detected a faint glow around our solar system. A United States Space Force early warning satellite, the Wide Field of View (WFOV), sent back its first images. NASA lost contact with the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) satellite.
Back down to Earth
NASA's Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) heat shield successfully landed on Earth after plummeting through the atmosphere.
The American military's automated shuttle X-37B landed on Earth after being in orbit more than 900 days.
The Earth's Moon
(50 years ago this week Apollo 17 visited the moon.)
On November 16th the Artemis I mission very successfully launched (previously), as the Space Launch System (SLS) carried to space the Orion spacecraft and more, leading NASA engineers to cut their ties. After reaching Earth orbit and firing itself towards the moon, the Launch Abort System blasted away from Orion and the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (IPCS) detached. During its journey Orion looked back to the Earth and ahead to its destination, catching an Earthrise and an eclipse. Orion skimmed over the moon's surface to within 80 miles, near side and far side, then traced a long, retrograde lunar orbit as far away as 40,000 miles from the moon, watching the moon and Earth transit, breaking Apollo 13's distance record for a human-rated ship. Next, Orion deorbited, skimmed over Luna once more, and headed back to Earth, casting a farewell glance. Yesterday Orion burned through the Earth's atmosphere to splash down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
Artemis I also carried ten cubesats, including LunIR, Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper, Lunar IceCube, and ArgoMoon. BioSentinel tumbled for a bit, until an Ames team fixed things. Ground-based trackers lost contact with the Outstanding MOon exploration TEchnologies demonstrated by NAno Semi-Hard Impactor (OMOTENASHI). NASA lost contact with Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) and CubeSat for Solar Particles (CuSP). EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft (EQUULEUS) seems to be doing well. Ground control reestablished contact with Team Miles.
Meanwhile, another NASA probe successfully entered lunar orbit, CAPSTONE. NASA also awarded SpaceX a contract to develop a second Artemis lunar lander.
Also headed to the moon are a pair of probes, NASA's Lunar Flashlight and the iSpace HAKUTO-R M1 launched, which carries an Emirates Lunar Mission rover named Rashid and a JAXA "transformable lunar robot." Both were lofted together on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and will take several months to reach the moon.
A Japanese billionaire announced the crew to accompany him on dearMoon, a private lunar expedition. Enough missions are approaching the moon for two RAND scientists to ponder lunar mining issues.
In the Earth’s L2 point
The James Webb space telescope has been busy, expanding on what Hubble found, discerning details of an exoplanet's atmosphere, revealing more details of a nebula, and noting a protostar's formation, all while dodging micrometeoriods and competing with Artemis for Deep Space Network bandwidth.
Mars
A NASA team successfully updated Ingenuity's software. The helicopter then set a Martian altitude record. Scientists used the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) system on the Perseverance rover to identify ancient aqueous environments. Speaking of which, Viking I may have landed on the remains of an old flood.
To the asteroids
The Lucy spacecraft raced away from Earth, albeit with one flawed solar array.
Saturn
Webb turned its mechanical eyes to Titan and identified clouds in that thick atmosphere.
Some friends at the slowly-being-slightly-rebranded Inouye Solar Telescope opened their data center yesterday (desktop recommended), with some actual science data available.
While most people don't need 4+ GiB of solar telescope data, there are some nifty preview movies. Make sure the filters contain "Only public datasets".
Congrats IST folks, it's been a long road!
posted by SunSnork at 7:43 AM on December 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
While most people don't need 4+ GiB of solar telescope data, there are some nifty preview movies. Make sure the filters contain "Only public datasets".
Congrats IST folks, it's been a long road!
posted by SunSnork at 7:43 AM on December 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ah, turns out, previews for the IST are available for all data sets, not just the public ones!
posted by SunSnork at 7:52 AM on December 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by SunSnork at 7:52 AM on December 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
Two years round trip for a Venus fly-by. And ESA's BepiColombo mission is taking 7 years to get from Earth to Mercury orbit. To move inward in the solar system you have to proceed very gradually lest you fall into the sun.
posted by neuron at 8:41 AM on December 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by neuron at 8:41 AM on December 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
I had hoped we were exiting the bathysphere phase of space exploration, but apparently not. Perhaps far too profitable for some to willingly discontinue...
posted by jim in austin at 11:54 AM on December 13, 2022
posted by jim in austin at 11:54 AM on December 13, 2022
Stellar post!
Though it's cold...and foggy I was going to watch Geminid meteor shower....
posted by clavdivs at 9:55 PM on December 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
Though it's cold...and foggy I was going to watch Geminid meteor shower....
posted by clavdivs at 9:55 PM on December 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
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